Most growing businesses reach a point where marketing needs a senior owner. Revenue has outgrown founder-led selling, there’s a marketing team (or a couple of agencies) doing good work, but nobody is joining the dots between that activity and the commercial plan. The obvious answer is to hire a Chief Marketing Officer. The less obvious, and often better, answer at that stage is a fractional CMO.
I’m Glyn Hurll, and I work as a fractional CMO for technology, B2B and technology-led B2C businesses. This article explains what the role actually is, what it isn’t, and the signs that it might be right for you.
What a fractional CMO is
A fractional CMO is an experienced Chief Marketing Officer who works with your business part-time, usually one to three days a week. You get the same strategic leadership and accountability as a full-time CMO, but sized to what the business needs and can afford right now.
The important word is leadership. A fractional CMO joins your leadership team. They own the marketing strategy, the budget and the performance, and they report to the CEO and the board. They’re not a consultant who delivers a strategy deck and leaves, and they’re not an agency account manager working to a brief.
What the role typically covers
Every engagement is different, but the work usually includes:
- Strategy. A marketing plan that links directly to the business plan: which audiences, which propositions, which channels, and what it all has to deliver in revenue.
- Positioning and proposition. Making sure the market understands why you, and why now.
- Pipeline and demand generation. Building the engine that turns attention into qualified opportunities for sales.
- Team and agency leadership. Directing in-house marketers and external partners so effort goes where it counts.
- Budget and reporting. Deciding where money goes, and reporting results to the board in commercial terms.
- Hiring. Shaping the team the business needs next, including the eventual permanent marketing leader if that’s the right move.
Signs your business needs a fractional CMO
In my experience, these are the situations where a fractional CMO adds the most value:
- You’ve outgrown ad-hoc marketing. There’s plenty of activity, but no clear strategy tying it together, and it’s hard to say what’s working.
- Marketing reports to the CEO, who doesn’t have the time. The founder or MD is effectively the marketing director on top of everything else.
- You’re entering a new market or launching a product. You need a go-to-market plan and someone senior to lead it.
- You’re preparing for a raise or an exit. Investors will look hard at your growth engine, your pipeline and your unit economics.
- You want to hire a full-time CMO but aren’t sure what good looks like. A fractional leader can build the function, define the role and help you recruit.
- Your team is talented but under-led. Junior and mid-level marketers need direction, coaching and air cover from someone senior.
When a fractional CMO isn’t the right answer
It’s worth being honest about this. If what you need is pure execution capacity (more content, more ads, more events) then a good agency or another hire in the team may be the better spend. And if marketing is already your single biggest growth lever and the business can support it, a full-time CMO may be the right long-term answer. A fractional engagement can still be the bridge that gets you there.
How engagements usually start
Most of my engagements begin with a 90-day plan. The first few weeks are about diagnosis: stakeholder interviews, customer insight, and a review of the data, channels, team and spend. From there we agree a focused strategy with clear priorities and KPIs, and I start leading delivery alongside the team. You’ll find more on how that works on the approach page.
Frequently asked questions
Typically one to three days a week, flexed to need. Busier periods such as a launch might need more time; steadier periods need less.
Usually both. I work remotely across the UK and come on-site for leadership meetings, workshops and team sessions.
There’s no fixed term. Some businesses keep a fractional CMO for a year or more; others use one to build the function and then hand over to a permanent hire.
Next step
If you’re wondering whether a fractional CMO is right for your business, the quickest way to find out is a conversation. Book a no-obligation introductory call, tell me where the business is today and where it needs to be, and I’ll give you an honest view.